Are there over the counter antibiotics available for chickens?

[oregonkat]

Did u stitch her up? The crop is separate from the surrounding tissue.

No we glued her and I wish that we had stitched it because you really dont know if the darn thing is holding in there. We glued the crop, waited to make sure it was stuck and then moved on to the outer skin. All in all it seems to have worked but I would do this differently next time.

 

[Chasingcars]

Apparently stitching is THE only way to go with internal bits...I tried to glue and was lectured on why this isn’t the best option..what could happen ..why not to etc etc
I need a stiff drink after that chat!
#DoctorDaughter

Part of my lecture from my doctor daughter was that internal skin needs to meet internal skin to heal...internal bits/skin to glue ever won’t heal effectively ..she felt it best to stitch or leave without glue inside and use glue on the outer skin..then support saggy crop to promote healing..

 

[Shezadandy]

Excellent to know, thank you. I was indeed advised to use the lidocaine but we may have been just fine without it. Hopefully anyone reading my description of the surgery will also read on to your post and skip the lidocaine. It was expensive as heck too.

Where were you able to find the lidocaine if you don't mind my asking?

 

[bcatfish]

Can someone tell me more about the Fishmox? What would the dosage be based on weight?

 

[Rara541]

The only antibiotics available here are the injectable kind of penicillin and interestingly when I spoke to the chicken lady at my local grange she told me a couple of things that I did not know: chickens run at a very hot temp normally, between 102 and 105 degs. so it made sense that my hen felt hot to me and because of this high temp, bacterial infections usually have a hard time taking hold. She recommended continuing with the watery yogurt and egg yolk along with some soft scrambled egg to build up the good flora in her gut which the antibiotics would also kill. I have held off on giving her any drugs as she seems to be doing well aside from walking backwards in an attempt to rid herself of her sock bandage/bra.
The surgery was surprisingly easy. Make sure you have two people, this would be very hard on your own but I know folks have done it. Make sure you have all the bits and pieces ready: scalpel, bottle of betadine, lidocaine, cotton swabs, clean water and a syringe for flushing the crop and some pincers or tweezers for getting all the stuff out, and preferably some sutures and a hemostat. We used Vetbond adhesive but it was quite tricky to get both the crop and then the outer skin cleanly reattached, sutures would have easier and without the potential of splitting away.

Place a nice clean sock over the hens head so she cant see and freak out, they become quite docile at this point. You may have to cut away feathers around the incision area, we did not as her crop was naked. Clean the area really well with the betadine and then apply the lidocaine cream and wait for several minutes to deaden the area a bit. Make the incision going from the top of the crop down about an inch and a half. I know some folks do the incision like a smiley face across the crop but this seems counter intuitive to me as the wound would constantly be pulling against gravity to heal so we went the other way. Cut through the skin first and then through the crop, remove debris with pincers make sure you have a syringe or turkey baster with clean water to flush all the remaining goo and yellow liquid out of the crop. When done, seal the interior wound and then the exterior wound, clean everything again with betadine and make sure the hen cannot get to the wound by inventing some kind of bra or sling. Have this ready before you start the surgery so you can just slip her into it. Chickens heal amazingly quickly so the wound should be healed up completely in a couple of days. Voila!!! This is not for the faint of heart however, the stuff, as you can see above, is pretty disgusting and there is blood involved. Not much but enough to cause alarm if not prepared.

That’s amazing. You did surgery at home! I don’t know if I could do that a/out some gags lol. However, I suppose real sutures would’ve been best but I’m guessing you couldn’t use that on the interior incision on the crop unless they were dissolvable sutures. Is it safe and OK to use the vet glue on an internal incision site? Does it just dissolve the way once the healing process is complete?